Monday, February 9, 2015

Obama Makes Up Facts - Again


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Obama Makes Up Facts - Again

by Douglas Murray  •  February 9, 2015 at 5:00 am
The Crusades -- gruesome as they were -- were not some early outbreak of "Islamophobia." They were an effort, by Christian nations in Europe, to defend Christians in the Middle East who were being slaughtered by Muslim tribes, and specifically to take back the city of Jerusalem from the Muslim armies who had invaded it.
It is a very strange interpretation of history to put the blame for slavery on Christians, but to ignore William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln and other Christians who led the world in fighting to abolish it. Slavery is still practiced by Muslims in Mauritania and, as recently seen, by Boko Haram.
President Barack Obama, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, 2015. (Image source: White House video screenshot)
Barack Obama is the President of the United States, but to judge from his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast last Thursday morning, one might get the impression that he thinks himself far more than that.
He and his speechwriters presumably realised with the news in America, as in the rest of the world, dominated day in and day out with atrocious news stories from Muslim communities in the Middle East, the President would probably have to make a reference to Islamic violence.
President Obama described ISIS as "a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism." That "religion." rather than "Islam," was a notable nicety. Elsewhere, when he got into specifics, he indulged in a line of spread-the-blame-around-a-bit. He went on to say:

Blaming the Jews for Fun and Profit

by Shoshana Bryen  •  February 9, 2015 at 4:00 am
It is Israel's head on the block, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is weighing the political fallout of irritating a President who is generally irritated with Israel vs. nuclear fallout.
Thomas Friedman suggests again that Israel subordinate its national security concerns to American politics. Friedman remains a stalking horse for President Obama's views.
If U.S. military action in Iran were to fail, the blame should accrue to U.S. strategy, planning and execution, and not to Israel's justifiable concern that that it is #1 on the "hit list."
Perhaps Friedman could please go protect somebody else?
Shoshana Bryen writes that Israel's head is on the block, and its Prime Minister is weighing the political fallout of irritating a President who is generally irritated with Israel. Above, Israeli PM Netanyahu meets President Obama at the White House, May 20, 2011. (Image source: Israel PM office)
Thomas Friedman of The New York Times does not want Israel mucking in American policy-making toward Iran, and so counsels Prime Minister Netanyahu to cancel his planned speech to the U.S. Congress. He seems to believe Iran's determined march toward nuclear weapons and genocidal rhetoric about Israel, in fact, has nothing to do with Israel, and that Israel should avoid getting in America's way. But understand that Friedman is only trying to protect Israel.
Personally, I'm still dubious that the U.S. and Iran will reach a deal that will really defuse Iran's nuclear weapons program. Such a failure would be very serious and could end up, one day, with the U.S. deciding it has to use military force to set back Iran's program. We surely don't want Iran to get a bomb that sets off a nuclear arms race in an already unstable Middle East.

Palestinian Diplomatic Warfare Escalating West Bank Tensions

by Yaakov Lappin  •  February 9, 2015 at 3:00 am
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's chances of preventing violet clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces have been decreasing by the week.
Masked Palestinian rioters hurl rocks at Israeli security forces near Bil'in, January 7, 2011. (Image source: IDF)
As tensions in the West Bank between Israel and the Palestinians continue to grow, the West Bank is now the least stable arena in Israel's environment, and the risk of a new, large-scale wave of violence breaking out in this area next month is rising steadily.
Already, IDF personnel serving in the West Bank have noted a significant spike in violent incidents across their sector of operation.
In recent days, for example, an IDF unit in the West Bank spotted two Palestinian men hurling firebombs at Israeli traffic near the city of Nablus, and opened fire, killing one of the attackers and injuring the other.
Viewed on its own, the incident is a deadly, but isolated, clash that did not result in any immediate aftereffects.
It is, however, exactly this type of development that, Israeli security officials believe, ends up sparking larger clashes.
Several factors are colluding to make the West Bank the most likely region to flare up in 2015.

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